• CHERYL G. CRUZ
Electricity consumers in the franchise area of the Northern Negros Electric Cooperative (Noneco) will be paying P13.4306 per kilowatt-hour this billing month of February, from last month’s rate of P12.3865/kWh.
In an advisory Feb. 22, Noneco said there is an increase of P1.0441/kWh in the average residential rate for February, mainly due to the P1.9376/kWh hike in the price of power in the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM), or from P6.5169 to P8.4545/kWh.
It added that the supply of electricity it is buying from Green Core Geothermal Inc. (GCGI) also logged a P0.2914/kWh increase. The resumption this month of the collection of the FIT-All (Feed-in-Tariff Allowance) charge of P0.0364 likewise contributed to the more than one peso per kilowatt-hour hike.
The collection of FIT-All, the uniform charge billed on all on-grid consumers every month, and used as incentive for power generators to develop more environment-friendly energy sources, was suspended since December 2022 to provide relief to consumers amid the rising level of inflation and cost of living.
Noneco’s average rate this month is highest among electric utility providers in Negros Occidental and Bacolod City.
Last week, the Central Negros Electric Cooperative and Negros Occidental Electric Cooperative announced a P0.9506/kWh and P1.0580/kWh rate hikes, respectively.
A Ceneco member-consumer-owner (MCO) is billed P11.7856 per kilowatt-hour of power consumption, from last month’s rate of P10.8350/kWh, while a Noceco MCO has to pay P13.3051/kWh, from P12.2471/kWh in January.
Noceco also said it forecast higher electricity rates in the coming months of summer. | CGC
